What's the deal with HDR?

[Raging Beard]

Apparently you need to be in Exclusive Fullscreen, fine that brings up HDR options, but it looks so washed out! Monitor (G9) says it's in HDR mode, but the game clearly isn't

[Liam2349]

Most games have autistic HDR modes. I don't know why.

Try RE Village, that one works well.

[Xengre]

HDR is officially broken in Hitman 3, apparently on every existing platform (all consoles and PC). You will get some terrible explanations online asking if you actually have an HDR display, blah blah.

However, as many who have actually verified this (myself included) you can launch Hitman 2 with HDR and test the race track level with very vibrant pinks and teals, among other colors, at the entrance and as you walk around as it works well in Hitman 2. Launch the exact same level in Hitman 3 with a carry over (make sure it is exclusive fullscreen, too as that is required in Hitman 2 to even get it to work) and you will see the same exact level extremely washed out.

There is a way to somewhat bypass the issue, exclusive to Windows 11. This requires you to completely disable the built in HDR for the game and enable auto HDR on Windows 11 via the OS settings. I would think the auto HDR on Xbox Series X would also resolve the issue in the same way, but from what I've heard the game's built in HDR seems to prevent that and it is apparently broken there, as well.

They actually have a statement on IO's website stating they know the HDR is broken for "some configurations" or whatever, though in reality it is 100% broken for all builds using in-game HDR. This has been since launch and they've claimed "working on it" forever with clearly no intention to fix it.

Unfortunately, the only option is to use SDR. IO, literally, does not care. Then again, looking at what they've done with this most recent update... I think no more needs to be said.

[13xforever]

I am that one unicorn with proper hdr working on pc in all three hitman games

their hdr implementation is weird and you get broken colors on screenshots and video captures, but it looks correct in-game

[randir14]

It's been broken since release. The first few patch notes claimed they were investigating the issue, then they just abandoned it.

[Piano man]

As far as I remember it wasn't working in Hitman 2 either. I have a Samsung CRG9.

[WiDOWZ]

Originally posted by 13xforever:

I am that one unicorn with proper hdr working on pc in all three hitman games

their hdr implementation is weird and you get broken colors on screenshots and video captures, but it looks correct in-game

HDR screeenshots are always broken. Steam has yet to implement any sort of Tone mapping for HDR screenshots. The only way to circumvent this is to take a RAW screenshot using Nvidia Geforce Experience>Snapshot as HDR then bring it into a 32bit editor and do it yourself. Here's a mediocre attempt I made for GOW, mind you I didn't spend too much time on it. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2729314245

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Piano man:

As far as I remember it wasn't working in Hitman 2 either. I have a Samsung CRG9.

IIRC it didn't work initially, or wasn't in the game at launch (one of the two but I cannot recall which) but it currently does work in Hitman 2 if you have the game set to exclusive fullscreen (not just fullscreen, which is actually borderless). Unfortunately, on Windows 10 HDR does not work at all in Hitman 3 and devs acknowledged it was broken since like January 2020 but don't care to fix it.

[Piano man]

Originally posted by Xengre:

but it currently does work in Hitman 2 if you have the game set to exclusive fullscreen (not just fullscreen, which is actually borderless). Unfortunately, on Windows 10 HDR does not work at all in Hitman 3 and devs acknowledged it was broken since like January 2020 but don't care to fix it.

I've literally got Hitman 2 installed on my computer right now. The HDR does not work....
Okay, wait... it does not work PROPERLY. The colours are dull and deeply unsaturated, almost grey-like in tone and there is no way HDR is functioning properly.

This is Hitman 2 with HDR off: https://ibb.co/HH70MD2
And this is the scene with HDR on: https://ibb.co/3mLSyF6

I've seen HDR in Watch Dogs Legion, Doom Eternal, and Ghost Recon Breakpoint. There is NO WAY Hitman 2's HDR is functioning... correctly.

[Xengre]

Originally posted by Piano man:

Originally posted by Xengre:

but it currently does work in Hitman 2 if you have the game set to exclusive fullscreen (not just fullscreen, which is actually borderless). Unfortunately, on Windows 10 HDR does not work at all in Hitman 3 and devs acknowledged it was broken since like January 2020 but don't care to fix it.

I've literally got Hitman 2 installed on my computer right now. The HDR does not work....
Okay, wait... it does not work PROPERLY. The colours are dull and deeply unsaturated, almost grey-like in tone and there is no way HDR is functioning properly.

This is Hitman 2 with HDR off: https://ibb.co/HH70MD2
And this is the scene with HDR on: https://ibb.co/3mLSyF6

I've seen HDR in Watch Dogs Legion, Doom Eternal, and Ghost Recon Breakpoint. There is NO WAY Hitman 2's HDR is functioning... correctly.

It works in Hitman 2. I just loaded the level you tested on and it worked very well. It was not washed out for me and the colors were much more vibrant than when in SDR output. Mine looks nothing like yours in Hitman 2. However, that exact same level in Hitman 3 with HDR on looks identical to your washed out image, sadly.

As for the screenshots you posted they wont show HDR even if it was an HDR game you had HDR working in as PNG does not support HDR. I know windows gamebar JXR can do HDR screenshots, but I have no idea of any location that supports uploading and displaying them properly and can't be bothered to look tbh.

Are you making sure your game is set to HDR Windows settings (may work with auto while set to off, I've not tested though), HDR in the launcher settings (the basic configuration launcher before actually starting game), then HDR in the in-game settings as well? In addition, make sure it is set to EXCLUSIVE FULLSCREEN and not FULLSCREEN. This is how I got it to work for me in Hitman 2 (sadly does not work for Hitman 3).

[Piano man]

Believe me - I've tried all the settings. I've been running Hitman on Exclusive Fullscreen since Hitman 1 (I'm sure that option was available back then). I know PNG can't do HDR, but both those screenshots are representative of what I see onscreen with the HDR off and on. I know a LOT of people haven't had success with it:

https://www.reddit.com/r/HiTMAN/comments/c1oerk/hdr_on_hitman_2/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/863550/discussions/0/1744512563929887777/
https://www.reddit.com/r/HiTMAN/comments/kysxga/hdr_compability_not_detected/
https://www.windowsphoneinfo.com/threads/issue-with-hdr-in-games-version-20h2-games-that-use-windows-hdr-work-fine-but-not-games.500942/

Watch Dogs Legion looks quite nice with the HDR (not the best implementation, but hey), and Doom Eternal looks gorgeous.

I'm rather pissed off at it. It's like when they said RDR 2 would support HDR - I was eager to try it...

...turns out it doesn't even work.

[MP-ONE]

For Hitman 2 you need to set the gamma to 1.0 (i think) to get HDR to work correctly. It looks very good.

But for Hitman 3 the HDR is completly broken

[chebonaparte]

I had HDR on and the screenshots look duller than in-game?

[WiDOWZ]

Originally posted by chebonaparte:

I had HDR on and the screenshots look duller than in-game?

Steam just fixed this in its latest update.. about time as I've been waiting for years. Now we get a SDR screenshot representation. If you still want .RAW access of course you can still use geforce experience or windows gamebar as needed.

[UselessToilet]

Same for me, but it used to work great on my c9